Mystery Solved

Last week I wrote about my concern over some spray paint on a neighbor’s lawn. Had I been more observant I would have noticed that the spray paintings continued into the middle of the street and have since been joined by other mystic marking in various colors. Several signs have been delivered which boldly announce that the street is closed. Obviously this is all in preparation for some massive project the city has in mind for this part of the world. At least I noticed the continuation of the markings before I called the police. It would have been a touch embarrassing. ¶ Last week I wrote as well on not feeling my usual chipper self. With the return of the sun and the week off of chemo I’m feeling as normal as normal gets. Several people voiced their concerns. There is no need to be concerned any more. Thank you.

¶ The trip to Omaha did take place on Thursday. We were excited to see the daffodils. There was a massive cold front that passed through with Omaha on the northern edge. The daffodils suffered from freezing temps. There is a very large field of daffodils but it was less than striking due to the weather. We should have traveled earlier but there was no way to work it into the schedule. There were other lovely things to gaze upon such as the red bud trees. We saw a white flowered red bud tree that was spectacular. They are fairly impossible to grow here otherwise I would be sorely tempted to have one. ¶ The landscape architect arrived on Tuesday morning to hear my explanation of what I wanted to have done. His crew is very busy and they are very behind in their work but I’ve at least started the process. It’s still too early to plant here. The days have been mild, but the nights not so much. It was 23º one night last week. ¶ My right-hand man is cleaning out planting beds as I write. The front garden looks every so much better. I’m grateful for his work, both in and out of the house.

¶ In the Episcopal Church Calendar, the trial one, today is Genocide Remembrance Day. There is a day earlier in April when the Holocaust is remembered on the civil calendar. This day was chosen because the international community recognizes 24 April as a day of remembrance for the Armenian Genocide. It is touching that our President will officially recognize this atrocity. ¶ It is not just this event but Croatia, Nazi Germany, Zanzibar, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, East Timor, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Kurdish Iraq, Tibet, and others that are remembered. This is not a comprehensive list.

¶ The commemoration brings back to my mind the visits I’ve made to Dachau in Germany, Terezin/Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic, to the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, and to Yad Vashem in Israel. All of these visits were tremendously moving. I purchased a mezuzah at Terezin which is affixed to the door frame of my front door. ¶ The two most memorable events of my visit to Yad Vasham, the memorial to Holocaust victims near Jerusalem, are the Children’s Memorial and the Garden of the Righteous (Gentiles). ¶ The 1,500,000 children who perished at the hands of the Nazis are commemorated in a circular building. One enters and begins circling the perimeter. There are candles and pin-points of light, otherwise darkness. Some atonal music is played and the names of all of these children are read 24 hours each day until the list is completed and then it is begun again.

¶ The Garden of the Righteous commemorates those non-Jewish persons who assisted in helping the Jews escape the genocide. Pictures are included in this blog of the doors of the museum, a marker in the Garden of the Righteous, and my mezuzah. Since I can’t attach captions to the pictures, or I can’t figure out how to do that in this new Blogger version, you’ll have to figure them out for yourself. ¶ The purpose of this day is to call each of us to remember the cruelty shown toward other human beings by human beings simply because of who they are not what they have done. Awareness is the solution. We see evidence of hatred of others every day in the news. Genocide is happening right now in places around the world. ¶ As I predicted, my visit to Erik the Red was not noteworthy. It consisted of questions–how are you feeling? Any repercussions of the Gamma Knife treatment? We’ll order a hi-def MRI in two months. See you. Bye. ¶ There you have it. Enjoy the last week of April. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

What Should I Do?

I just returned from one of my walks. The sun came out for a few brief moments. This is, you understand, one of the very few moments the sun has poked through the clouds in a week’s time. We don’t really have any rain, so clouds are just there not bestowing any blessing on the earth. All they really do is make everything look downcast and dreary. I’m tired of it and it certainly doesn’t do my attitude any favors.

¶ I thought I should take advantage of the few rays of sunshine so out I went out to walk. There are several rental properties west of my house (well east of it also, to be honest about it). I usually walk west because the inclines are less steep. Coming back homewards, I noticed some spray paint on one of the lawns. It was most of a swastika with one numeral 8. I think it is a Black family’s home that adjoins the lawn. I looked up the sign. The swastika everyone is familiar with. The numeral 8 could have been the beginning of 88, which stands for Heil, Hitler, H being the 8th letter in the German alphabet. I believe that this house is the same one that displayed a “Black Lives Matter” sign briefly last June. ¶ I truly hope that this paint job is just some kids playing, not knowing what it means. Then, again, I truly hope that some hate group has not moved into the neighborhood. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center there is only one hate group active in South Dakota, the Neo-Nazis, and they are located in the Rapid City area. They are also present south of us in Nebraska. No other hate groups have been organized in this state according the SPLC’s research. ¶ Anyway, I am wondering if I should report this, and to whom I should report it. I’ve no idea who did it. It is not complete so I am making some assumptions. I’ll need to do some further research. In the meantime I will fret and stew about it. Sometimes just taking a walk will raise a myriad of questions.

¶ I finally got my body outside to do a very little yard work today. Cutting down the canes on the Autumn Joy sedum was about all I could accomplish. I’ve not done much exercise this week because I’ve not felt particularly well. It was chemo week so that could have been the problem. The gray skies day after day could have been the problem. What ever the cause, it felt good to be outside with growing things. A friend came over to help with some weeding. She misses having a garden so I let her “play in my dirt.” ¶ We have a plan to do some more landscaping in the front. In my mind that means taking out grass and putting in something. In my mind something, meaning anything, is more interesting than grass. Also, it does not involve mowing or fertilizing or constant watering. I’ll contact the landscape people the first of the week and see what their vision might be. I’ll listen to their opinion but will, more than likely, prefer my own idea. That’s just the way it is. I am way too old to change!

¶ This week also brought news of the death of another long-time and dear friend. I’m really getting a tired of this. As the alumni news arrived today from my Alma Mater, the thought of reading the class news almost brings a feeling of dread. Let’s face it, there are no births, weddings, weddings of children, new jobs or other happy events to report concerning people from my class. There are only deaths. ¶ As I mentioned I have not felt particularly well this week. Usually the chemo has minimal side effects. I’ve had more nausea this week than every before, and this feeling of being tired almost all the time is not normal for me. I’m hoping next week will be better. ¶ A friend and I will drive to Omaha on Thursday (when it is supposed to be sunny) to visit the botanical gardens there and walk through the field of 350,000 daffodils. It is a beautiful place and it will be lovely to visit again. I’m sure it will perk me up. ¶ I see the radiation oncologist (AKA Erik the Red) on Monday. I don’t know what he is going to tell me since I’ve not had a scan and I look pretty much normal when viewing my countenance in a mirror. I understand from what the regular oncologist said that he will be ordering my MRIs from now on. That will add another circle of medics to my orbit. I’m well cared for. ¶ Thanks for your prayers, your thoughts, your reading, and for keeping in touch. All are needed and received as a blessing.

Bright Week

In some Christian traditions the week after Easter is called Bright Week. It is a whole week of continuing celebration of our Lord’s resurrection. It is the most special time of the year. ¶ Last week I wrote about the advent of spring and a phone call I received from the son of a friend. That friend and I met 61 years ago when I began singing in the Calvary Cathedral Choir as a college student. ¶ On Easter afternoon I received another call from the aforementioned son. His mother’s kidney function was deteriorating and the family had decided to move her to comfort care. I spent a few hours at the hospital with her and the family. I returned home about 8 PM and found out the next day that she had departed this life at 9:00 PM on Easter Day. Our Orthodox sisters and brothers would say that it is a special blessing to die on Easter Day. Rest in peace and rise in glory, Jeanne.

¶ Jeanne and I had carefully planned her funeral a few years ago. She was a little reluctant to do that but I explained how helpful it is to the family to have all those plans already made at a time when decisions often must be made in haste. She chose beautiful hymns and readings that spoke very much of her faith. She also specified that yours truly was to be the celebrant and preacher at her Requiem. ¶ So most of Easter week was spent in preparing for Jeanne’s funeral. It rained that day, not ferociously but gently. As we stood at the cemetery I was reminded once again of new life coming from old as the very thirsty ground received the gift from heaven. The funeral liturgy contains the phrase “for to your faithful people Lord, life is changed, not ended.” I really believe that. There was real closure at that graveside service because the family opted to remain while the casket was lowered, the vault closed and the dirt replaced. It was fitting and it was good. ¶ Jeanne was a devoted oblate of our little Benedictine community here so her death was just as if a family member had died. We miss her very much. ¶ I attended the Easter Vigil at Good Shepherd here in Sioux Falls, mainly because I’d heard rumors that they were singing once again, and they were! We actually were allowed to sing the wonderful Easter hymns. It felt so good to be able to do that after a year of it’s being forbidden. For this singer it was something I needed to do to make the feast real again.

¶ Another puzzle has been completed. This one was a challenge because several pieces fit in more than one place. After searching for a particular piece for many minutes, I would discover I was looking for the wrong thing! ¶ Spring continues to make itself known. One day this week the temperature peaked at 88 degrees! The next day we were back down to more reasonable early spring temps meaning highs of 50º. Typical South Dakota spring as I wrote last week. ¶ The garden is beginning to call to me. The call will have to become a bit more loud before I respond, but the guilt feeling is starting to make itself known. There is a lot of clean up needed, especially getting rid of dead “stuff,” and giving the new shoots some space in which to grow.

¶ One of the busiest times of the year at the Pavilion of Arts and Science is spring when many of the schools come on field trips. Last year that was a non-thing. This year business is starting to pick up again. I used to enjoy working with the students as a docent but have avoided being around them since my immune system has been compromised. My decision was confirmed affirmatively yesterday when we had several classes from one private school (of a fairly traditional, conservative background). None of the students wore masks and a very few of the teachers. Since the city mandate concerning masks was not renewed the Pavilion cannot require masks (being a city owned institution). It does highly recommend them and the staff is required to wear masks. I was happy to count the students as they entered and let others of the docent staff work with the students.

¶ Next week is chemo week again, along with a visit to the dentist and a few OLLI classes. It will be enough to keep me out of mischief, as “they” say. I still wonder who “they” are. ¶ Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, for reading and supporting and just being there should I have need of your presence. I am so grateful.

Spring has Sprung!

It has been a beautiful week culminating with 75º on this Saturday, April 3. For all intents and purposes spring has sprung, as they say. (Have you ever wondered who “they” were?) The coming of spring is always a thing about which to become excited. The only problem is that this is South Dakota and past history tells us we can still have some pretty ugly snowstorms. ¶ The famous ice-storm of a few years ago was an April event. I was serving a church in Denver and took a week off after Easter to come back and do some yard work. Instead I spent the time sawing off branches, arranging for a tree to be removed and dealing with the aftermath of that weather event.

¶ The year my mother died I traveled with some friends to Rapid City on the first weekend in May so that I might spend some time with her. A blizzard struck which closed down the town and stranded us there until Sunday afternoon when we had to beat a path back to Sioux Falls so we could teach the next day. We did have to wait until the Interstate Highway reopened. ¶ It is not considered safe to plant in this part of the world until Mothers’ Day. Even then it’s risky.

¶ Still, it is wonderful to smell the fresh air and feel the sunshine and imagine how things will be in a few weeks. The evidence is right before us. My neighbor’s two trees next to my property are ready to pop. One is a maple and the other a dirty, nasty aspen with ten million hairy seed pods (or whatever they are) ready to clog my air conditioner, spread all over the yard, and cause endless sneezes as they spread far and wide. ¶ The daffodils are preparing to herald forth spring. The hollyhocks are beginning to show new leaves. There are tiny yellow flowers on the creeping thyme. All signs of the beginning of new life. ¶ We celebrate that in church tonight with the Great Vigil of Easter. Today is a quiet day known as the Holy and Great Sabbath in the Orthodox tradition. The Orthodox won’t be celebrating that today because their Easter doesn’t occur until the first weekend of next month. ¶ Some years we are celebrating Easter on the same day. Many years we are not. Going back in time this all boils down to a difference in the way

the Christian Easter is determined. The Western Churches celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring. The Eastern Churches use the same formula but stipulate that it has to be after Passover. Often times the western church is celebrating Easter while our Jewish siblings are celebrating Passover. That never happens in the Eastern Church. ¶ All that is happening out in nature reminds us of this Easter event. New life is showing up all the time. Things that looked dead a few weeks ago are sending up new green shoots. There is a lovely Easter hymn that sounds very ancient but in reality is fairly recent: “Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain, wheat that in dark earth many days has lain; love lives again, that with the dead has been: Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.”

¶ I just received a phone call from the son of a friend, an old, old friend. I think I’ve know this friend for more than 60 years. She is currently in hospital trying to recover from surgery with several other maladies assaulting her frail frame. The fourth stanza of that aforementioned hymn might well be my prayer tonight: “When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain, Thy touch can call us back to life again, fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been: Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.” ¶ This Holy Week has been a wonderfully quiet and reflective time. I’ve felt well, engaged in some exercise (not enough!) and enjoyed the time to think, and pray, and read. Thank you for reading, for praying, for thinking about me. I treasure all of you. Another chemo-free week next week. It seems a little strange not having been in a waiting room for an entire week, strange but pleasant. I hope you have a blessed Easter.